Fallen Angels

Walter Dean Myers

nov 2013 · Zola Books

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 Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a young adult novel about seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the Army when unable to afford college and is sent to fight in the Vietnam War. Perry and his platoon—Peewee, Lobel, Johnson, and Brunner—come face-to-face with the Vietcong, the harsh realities of war, and some dark truths about themselves. A thoughtful young man with a gift for writing and love of basketball, Perry learns to navigate among fellow soldiers under tremendous stress and struggles with his own fear as he sees things he’ll never forget: the filling of body bags, the deaths of civilians and soldier friends, the effects of claymore mines, the fires of Napalm, and jungle diseases like Nam Rot. 

Available as an e-book for the first time on the 25th anniversary of its publication, Fallen Angels has been called one of the best Vietnam War books ever and one of the great coming-of-age Vietnam War stories. Filled with unforgettable characters, not least Peewee Gates of Chicago who copes with war by relying on wisecracks and dark humor, Fallen Angels “reaches deep into the minds of soldiers” and makes “readers feel they are there, deep in the heart of war.” Fallen Angels has won numerous awards and honors, including the Coretta Scott King Award, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Booklist Editors Choice, and a School Library Journal Best Book. Fallen Angels was #16 on the American Library Association’s list of the most frequently challenged books of 1990–2000 for its realistic depiction of war and those who fight in wars.

Acerca del autor

 New York Times bestselling author, Walter Dean Myers was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia. After the death of his mother, he was sent to Harlem where he lived with his foster parents, the Deans, from the age of three. As a child, he began writing little poems and short stories and found solace in books. At sixteen he dropped out of high school and joined the army on his seventeenth birthday.

After serving three years in the army he worked at various jobs including factory assembler, construction worker, employment interviewer, and mail handler in the Post Office.  His writing career began with the publication of some of his short stories in men’s magazines, the National Enquirer and literary quarterlies. In 1969, he won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest, which resulted in the publication of his first book, Where Does the Day Go?, by Parent’s Magazine Press.

Using meticulous research and his own life experience to inform his writing, Walter Dean Myers has since written more than 150 books. He has received every single major award in the field of children’s literature and is considered one of the preeminent writers for young people.

Walter Dean Myers is the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, the 2012-2013 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. He is the author of two Newbery Honor books and five Coretta Scott King Awardees. In addition, he is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, a three-time National Book Award Finalist, as well as the first-ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was the 2010 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.